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Grace Mugabe accused of smuggling ivory and gold
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Not sure if this has been posted yet....

https://www.smh.com.au/world/a...20180325-p4z65h.html


quote:
Grace Mugabe accused of smuggling ivory, gold, diamonds from Zimbabwe
By Peta Thornycroft
25 March 2018 — 3:22pm

Harare: Zimbabwe police have launched an investigation into Grace Mugabe, the former First Lady, over allegations that she headed a poaching and smuggling syndicate that illegally exported tons of elephant tusks, gold, and diamonds from the country.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of Zimbabwe, sanctioned an "urgent" investigation into Grace Mugabe's activities after "very strong" evidence was uncovered by Adrian Steirn, an Australian photo-journalist.

Grace Mugabe, who wielded significant power in Zimbabwean politics until Robert Mugabe, her husband, was ousted in a soft coup last November, was named as the alleged mastermind of the illegal operation by two suspected poachers who were later arrested in a police sting after trying to sell tusks to Mr Steirn.
She has not yet been charged.

Zimbabwe is home to about 86,000 elephants, the second largest population in Africa, according to a 2016 census. That figure represented a 10 per cent drop since 2005.

Although the population is considered healthy in the north-west of the country, losses have been heavy in other parts. About 900 elephants were lost to poachers between 2013 and 2016, nearly 250 of them poisoned with cyanide or shot.

Grace Mugabe's name was linked to large scale wildlife trafficking following a four-month investigation by Steirn, who posed as a customer for contraband ivory to infiltrate the smuggling and poaching networks.

Steirn said he decided to launch the investigation after hearing rumours about Grace Mugabe's complicity in trade during several years reporting on wildlife crime in Africa. Lloyd, a man who spent five years in prison for poaching, provided the initial evidence that triggered the investigation.

"For years I've been documenting the front-line poachers who end up serving 20 years for shooting a giraffe. Meanwhile, she was taking billions of dollars out of the country," Steirn said. "If they charge and arrest her, and she goes to jail for wildlife crimes, that will change the dynamic of the entire perception of wildlife trafficking across Africa," he said.

Undercover footage filmed by Steirn shows several sources, including suspected poachers and intelligence, wildlife and aviation officials, describing how Grace Mugabe smuggled ivory poached in national parks or looted from government warehouses out of the country by exploiting an exemption from airport security screening as First Lady.

They include Fariken Madzinga, 48, a registered dealer of ivory who describes in the footage how he also runs a syndicate that handles both poached ivory and tusks stolen from the government's secure stockpiles of wildlife products on behalf of Grace Mugabe.

In conversations with Steirn recorded before his arrest, Madzinga described how he relies on "the president and first lady" to get contraband tusks out of the country. "In order for it to pass through customs, the goods of the First Lady were not searched. She had immunity from the government," he added. "There is nobody who is going to open this."

Madzinga and Tafadzwa Pamire, 36, were arrested in a police sting after trying to sell Steirn tusks they said had been procured from poachers.

They were carrying six large tusks worth more than £16,000 ($28,000) as unprocessed ivory when they were apprehended while carrying out the sale on February 15, according to court documents. They are due to appear in court on April 9 charged with illegal possession of raw tusks.
Steirn, who will be the main state witness in the trial, said he has received death threats warning him not to testify.
Documents suggest that an airport security loophole also extended to cargo shipments marked as assigned to the First Lady, allowing a much larger scale of traffic than would be possible in personal luggage.

An Airport Security Protocol (ASP), issued by the Mugabe government's Civil Aviation Authority, and printed on its letterhead, instructs the cargo department and all airport security not to scan or search any consignment connected to the first family or their entourage.

While it is usual practice to exempt diplomats and heads of state, as well as immediate family members travelling with them, from searches, it is highly unusual to extend that waiver to unaccompanied cargo or beyond immediate family members. Christopher Mutsvangwa, a special adviser to Mnangagwa, said the president was aware of the allegations and had sanctioned the investigation based on the information revealed by Steirn.

"We have commenced a full inquiry in addition to ongoing investigations into the recent seizure of a large quantity of ivory that was bound for an overseas destination," Mutsvangwa, a former leader of Zimbabwe's powerful association of War Veterans and a long standing critic of Grace Mugabe within the ruling Zanu PF party, said. "The government of Zimbabwe will seek answers from all parties who have been implicated in this matter, including former First Lady Grace Mugabe and former minister of environment Saviour Kasukuwere," he said in an interview in Moscow, where he was an observer at last week's Russian presidential election.

Mustvangwa said there is currently no suggestion that Robert Mugabe, who is now 94, is implicated in the smuggling ring.
However, he added that there was mounting evidence that the gang included high-ranking members of Mugabe's security apparatus and that the systemic smuggling also involved rhino horn, diamonds, and gold. "Ivory is just one part of it," he said.

In his last five years in office, Mr Mugabe regularly travelled for medical treatment to Singapore using Air Zimbabwe's only long-haul aircraft, a Boeing 767. He was often accompanied by Mrs Mugabe.

He last visited the city state in December, a month after he left office.

On the same day he flew out of Harare, on December 11, a consignment of 200 kilograms of ivory destined for Kuala Lumpur was seized at Harare international airport.

While Grace Mugabe's alleged customers have not been named, Mutswanga said the buyers are assumed to be organised criminal groups operating out of China and Malaysia. Such gangs have been linked to multi-million dollar poaching operations across Africa and have a reputation for extreme violence.
In August last year Wayne Lotter, a South African conservationist investigating ivory smuggling networks, was shot dead in Tanzania.
And last month Esmond Bradley Martin, an American, and one of the world's leading experts on the illegal wildlife trade, was stabbed to death at his home in Nairobi.

The exposure of top Zimbabwean officials in the illegal wildlife trade will come as little surprise to conservationists, who say official corruption, including cooperating with major organised crime networks, has fuelled poaching.

"Corruption is key all along the supply chain," said Lucy Vigne, a leading researcher into the smuggling of illegal ivory and rhino horn from Africa. "Officials may turn a blind eye for bribes or collude with the criminal traders in illegal wildlife trade activities themselves."
"There has been a concerted international effort to bring down the high-level trafficking networks of which Grace is an example," said Frank Pope, chief executive officer of Save The Elephants, a leading charity.
"She is not alone in being a senior figure in this kind of stuff, not alone in this current crisis and not alone in the historical perspective of the ivory trade. There have been other senior figures who've lined their pockets substantially from the ivory trade."

Grace Mugabe did not respond to multiple requests to comment.

Father Fidelis Mukonori, who is close to the Mugabe family, said he discussed the allegations with Mrs Mugabe and she said she was "unconcerned. She said it doesn't matter."
Telegraph, London


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Posts: 324 | Location: Australia  | Registered: 04 May 2013Reply With Quote
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I think it's fairly obvious that (1) Grace did all of this and much, much more in her 21 years a Worst Lady, and (2) that it will be milked for it's maximum yield by the new regime.

First of all, it's great that it looks like she will be prosecuted. Regardless of what people in First World countries with working legal systems think is good, Africa doesn't work that way.

There is no way Bob will ever be charged for any of his transgressions, if the Croc is smart. Bob's too much of an icon, and that would be seen as a bad move throughout the rest of Africa. but Grace is, no pun intended, fair game.

But is this about law and order? Hell no! It's about continuing with the night-of-the-long-knives stuff from the coup, settling political scores, and getting rid of elements loyal to the old regime. So far, the only ones to come short have been the National Parks Board, dismissed en masse because they were Old Guard (apart from being crooked and incompetent, of course).

When that 200kg shipment of ivory was seized at Harare's airport in December, it was announced in the press that the facilitators had been two of Mugabe's aides. Now, the official line is that its origin is "unknown". Grace is one of the most hated people in the country, but why the back-track? Who else does the trail lead to.

Questions I would like to see the answers to are (1) who signed off on the ivory, which did have CITES permits, and (2) who, by name, were these mysterious "first ladies" in Asia?

Right now, this is just a game of pass the buck, but hopefully she will be arrested and charged. Convicted? This is Africa. As Don Heath used to say, why hire a lawyer when you can buy a judge?
 
Posts: 408 | Location: Zimbabwe | Registered: 01 December 2010Reply With Quote
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201804060061.html


Zimbabwe: Police Tighten Noose On Grace Mugabe

Police have intensified investigations into a case in which former First Lady Mrs Grace Mugabe allegedly smuggled ivory worth millions of dollars to underground foreign markets.

Sources close to the investigations yesterday confirmed the developments and said they were still working with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) investigators, who have since submitted key documents relevant to the allegations to the police.

Preliminary indications are that Mrs Mugabe spirited large consignments of ivory to China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, among other destinations.

The former First Lady will soon be questioned by law enforcers, but some of the officials in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), whom she allegedly ordered to facilitate the illicit deals have since been questioned.



A source close to the investigations said: "We are closing in with our investigations and we are working closely with the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority investigators.

"We have also picked up and questioned several suspects whom we believe are linked to the case."

The sources could not divulge the number of suspects that they have picked up so far, except that they recently arrested one F Madzinga from the OPC.

According to the sources, Madzinga has since appeared in court and is out on bail.

Although police could not confirm the latest developments, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba recently told The Sunday Mail that, "a report was made by an anonymous source and investigations are on, although still in early stages".

Information at hand suggests Mrs Mugabe ordered officials to issue her with export permits under the pretext that she was sending the ivory to leaders of various countries as "gifts".


Once outside Zimbabwe, it is alleged, the "gifts" would be pooled with other consignments of the product and routed to black markets.

It is believed Mrs Mugabe involved OPC officials in obtaining the permits which are issued in terms of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

At one point, the officials allegedly forced ZimParks director-general Mr Fulton Mangwanya to sign for consignments he had not inspected.

On October 29 2017, officials reportedly acting on Mrs Mugabe's instructions, wrote to Mr Mangwanya saying: "Urgent CITES permit is being sought to clear State gifts presented by the principal to guests from China on Sunday, 29 October 2017.

"The guests will be returning to China on Monday, 30 October 2017 with morning flight, which will depart Harare International Airport at 0800hours, hence requesting that the urgent CITES permit should be ready today (Sunday, 29 October 2017).

"The gifts have been purchased by Office of the President and Cabinet from F Madzinga Ivory Manufacturers of Harare."

Several other such letters were written between 2016 and 2017.



ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said: "The Zimbabwe Republic Police have requested permit documents processed by one F. Madzinga, with a view to photocopying them.

"The international relations office, in liaison with the investigations office, recommends that the documents be accompanied by senior ranger (security) Cavin Majuru and senior ranger (permits) S Gushe."

President Mnangagwa's Special Advisor, Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa, recently said the OPC was seized with the matter.

"Investigations are certainly on," he said.

"We received a report from a whistleblower and some of her clients. Police and the whistleblowers laid a trap for suppliers believed to be working for Grace Mugabe.

"The culprits were caught and that is how the investigations started.

"When we were confronted with so much evidence, there was no way we could ignore; we had to act."

Zimbabwe has over the years suffered rampant poaching, with elephants the prime targets on account of their tusks which are used for ornaments and medicine.


Kathi

kathi@wildtravel.net
708-425-3552

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
 
Posts: 9569 | Location: Chicago | Registered: 23 July 2003Reply With Quote
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Her and her husband do not need any investigation by the police!

Just tighten the noose around their necks and open the drop door!

That is the only way justice is served!


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